Animal Behaviour and Sensory Biology

Painted marked Temnothorax albipennis

Research is aimed at understanding the adaptive significance of behaviour, from underlying mechanisms (‘how’, or proximate, questions) through evolutionary explanations of function (‘why’, or ultimate, questions) to interspecific interactions at the community level.

The approach is strongly interdisciplinary, using diverse physiological, biomechanical, neurological and molecular techniques, theoretical modelling and behavioural experiments in both laboratory and natural populations to link from the genetic foundations through to the evolution of behaviour and sensory systems.